Tell me your favourite childhood toys which were actually shit

[ClapForCats]

I loved the Magic Robot.

Also a newspaper board game called "SCOOP!"

I must have been easily pleased as a child. I LOVED those water games. So much so that I had a pen and a torch version.

Anyone remember Pretty Cut and Grow?
She came with a leaflet of hairstyle suggestions, that were mostly impossible to create because all her hair came out of a hole in the top of her head so she basically had an extreme undercut. You could cut her hair, then pull it out to make it long again. I left trails of teeny snips of yellow wool all over the house. And her real hair ran out before Christmas Day was over and my mother replaced it with ordinary wool once and after that she was bald.
I loved her so much!

So what was the deal with Mr Frosty? I never had one, but wanted one desperately! I remember something like you were supposed scoop ice-cubes into his hat, turn the handle on his back and slush was meant to come out of his stomach. You scooped this with a little blue spade and were then supposed to put brightly coloured syrup onto it, yes?

I think I remember my friends mum saying she had no ice cubes, so instead we scraped the icy frost from the side and top of the freezer drawers instead. We turned the handle and only water came out. Was that everyone else's experience too?!

Mr. Frosty (or at least, our Mr. Frosty) didn't produce anything which was capable of being scraped off.

It just made a nightmarish hard blob of ice which broke the little scoop thing.

I bet if it was redesigned and remarketed it would make someone a lot of money.

When we bought one for the DC it cost a fucking fortune.

Oh and when you turned the handle it just broke off.

Does anyone remember the magnetic fish thing? I loved it so much. It was so exciting, dipping for a fish with a high number.

I think.

I had a really dull bible stories Fuzzy Felt set . It got a bit more exciting when combined with the jungle beasts set and various nativity characters fell woolly victim to lions

There is special place in Hell for sinners to play with magnetic darts,god they were shite - they never stuck to the board and then the magnet fell off so you was left with some plastic wings to choke on .

He's still here!

www.amazon.co.uk/House-Marbles-Magical-Amazing-Robot/dp/B0042YLP8Q/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&s=kids&keywords=the+magic+robot&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&qid=1586288523&sr=1-1

Never got a Mr Frosty or a Soda Stream

Got a a Rainbow Brite doll which looked Ike it was going to be the same size as me but was tiny. Disappointing.

This thread has really made me smile. I also came to nominate Dream Phone - I begged and begged for it and it was absolutely rubbish. Had no re-playability - absolutely a one off novelty.

Scoop! is also available.

With the exclamation mark.

I've just googled baby all gone and apparently her predecessor was called baby alive, which is a really disturbing name for a doll.

ClapForCats Yes we had a magnetic fishing game thing it had fold out cardboard sides.

Fashion wheel was a load of rubbish. Was really disappointed.
Had lots of glowworms/glowpets I loved.
Also played lots with my a la carte kitchen but wasn't as good as it looked on the advert.
As a very young child I always wanted the big yellow teapot but never got it.

@DieCryHate was it this?? My best friend had it, why I asked for one in the first place! I had a sleeping beauty one!

Another one: those Fisher Price roller skates that extended. So uncomfortable

I loved the smell of those cupcake dolls! I must have been a strange child!

I never got a Cabbage Patch Doll despite years of begging. Tell me I didn’t miss much....

@NewYearNewTwatName

Yes!

Fold-out cardboard sides.

Small pleasures, eh?

Has anyone mentioned clackers yet? Equally crap and dangerous, I loved mine, but they got unceremoniously thrown out by DM when the (possibly exaggerated) stories of shattering clackers blinding unsuspecting kids started appearing in the Daily Mirror.

The best thing about the Spirograph in the 70s was the different coloured biros. Purple and turquoise biros were an amazing novelty then. Also the kit was better quality than the equivalent my DCs got a generation later.

My Pippa doll. Really odd neck, weird fanny and she appeared to have had a really bad doll boob job. Had about 3 outfits and I never did get Pippa’s pony.

Fucking Sindy got all the good gear.

Screwball Scramble was a waste of time. As was kerplunk & hungry hippos, too noisy & too much fighting about who had the most balls.

I also remember the syrup in Mr Frosty was so sour & disgusting.

Did anyone else have a water baby? It was a doll you could fill up with water so it felt wobbly and “alive”...I adored mine!

@bananaskinsnomnom yes that's the one! So stylish and sophisticated

Screwball Scramble was the best! Me nieces still play the one I had as a kid. Rock n Roll maze too but I found that really hard.

To all those sad about not getting a Mr. Frosty: You didn’t miss out on ANYTHING

It was a notoriously disappointing toy, everything that anyone has said here is true. Listed as Number one disappointing toy in this article: www.denofgeek.com/culture/top-10-disappointing-toys-of-the-1980s/

@Offredismysister I will have to stop you there and correct you. Screwball scramble was perhaps one of the best games ever! My brother and I used to time each other with a stopwatch

I eventually got a mr frosty after about 5 years of asking. It was so eagerly anticipated. Put the ice cubes in. Turned the handle. Whole fucking handle snapped off
I also remember really wanting a skip it that had the inbuilt counter like some of my friends had. But my mum bought me a cheaper version, one with a glittery rubber pink ball on the end. I was quite sad about it for quite a long time.
Does anyone remember dear diary? I had one my grandparents bought me one Christmas. I was so excited and it did bring me joy for a long time but looking back it was a bit shit!!
Also, just remembering those stick on earrings that came on a big sheet, stars, moons, diamond and flowers... how dreadful were they?!